The Jazz Queen is a celebration of the greatest female jazz singer of the 20th century. During the turbulent period of American social history, people constantly drew lines around issues of race, gender, and popular culture. This book examines the actual experience of becoming a jazz queen with a firm and revealing perspective. This is a documentary that tells the story of how these women succeeded - always at a personal cost - to become the greatest artists of the 20th century; Women who choose to sing rather than live themselves, because singing is their life.